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MOTUC Q&A's From Around the Net (2/1/2012)

Barbecue17 asks: What does Mattel consider a legitimate QC issue that would warrant figures to be delayed or exchanged in mass? For some figures who customers have perceived as having problems, these have been responses from some Mattel reps: “Mossman is not a bath toy.” “It’s not a big deal! Reviewers didn’t notice the backward shoulders.” “The figure is not defective, it just is not working as perfect as we will like.” Recently, we have seen widespread QC problems with Swiftwind’s legs. How defective or “not working as perfect as we would like” would a figure have to be for Mattel to take action on a QC issue? Missing limbs?

We don’t have a specific rule for this but we do replace any defective product so if a figure is assembled incorrect you can return it for a corrected item.

1- Are the delays in figures from December (Demo/BGEL) related to shipping from US to China, production delays or something else? They were a combination of several issues hitting all at once. To resolve this, we will no longer ship or sell subscription product until the full quota is in our distribution center.

2- Any idea on how many Windraiders were missing the mini-guns on the under-side? We do not share this information publically.

3- Has Mattel finalized plans for their Conventions for 2012 or at least where the Traveling Sorceress will be available? We will announced this at NYTF in Feb.

5- Are the MOTU/GB figures that are planned to be for sale in 2012, original run stock or newly manufactured? A combo of both

Kastor's Korner: The MOTUC Wind Raider was a smashing success, selling out quickly despite its price tag and lack of inclusion in the sub. Does this vehicle's success-- and the new online home of DC Universe with Club Infinite Earths-- change the previous precedent of no 6" scale vehicles in the DC Universe line?

Matty: The Windraider actually only performed "okay" for us and therefore we have no plans for more vehicles in the near future.There is just too much tooling involved that is a one time use.

Kastor's Korner: Digital River is requiring damaged or defective Wind Raiders be sent back before a replacement can be issued, but there are now reports that customers who return the defective product are being issued refunds instead of replacements, thus making their collections incomplete. Is there no stock allocated for defectives for vehicles, and will this lack of replacements for defects and damaged items be the same for all subscription products going forward? More to point for the Wind Raider, will it be offered again for those who were issued a refund instead of a replacement?

Matty: There are still customer service stock of Windraiders available if you have a defective one to send back for a replacement.

Is there any possibility to give subscribers an option to decide whether or not they want combined shipments?

We are always working on improved shipping options but this is not available now.

You revealed that another Weapons Pak is planned for Fall 2012. Will that included only repainted accessoires, or completely new, previously unused sculpts as well?

That is still on the fence. We will have to see how the first few 2012 figures sell to see whether we can get tooling for this set or if it will be all repaints.

Will the lava on the Snake Mountain stands be just colored red, or is there still a change to produce them in transculent red?

It is not cast in clear but rather painted per the Horsemen's design specs.

Fans Choice Contest Question: You said that only Club Eternia 2013 subscribers will be able to vote for the final figure that's gonna be released next year. But there also are fans who didn't subscribe directly, but through friends or import shops who placed multiple subscriptions. Can they vote through their "middlemen"?

For every 2013 sub you buy you will get one code to let you vote in the poll. If you or a reseller wants to pass those codes on to friends or other customers to use and vote they are welcome to. But it is one code per sub bought. And the window to use the codes and vote will be limited to the time of the sale. Once the sub sale ends, the voting will also be closed regardless of how many sub holders use their codes and vote.

Another Fans Choice Contest Question: Let's say, an overwhelming majority of subscribers vote for one particular figure. Does that mean that we ain't gonna see the other candidates for a couple years?

Yes. We will only be doing the winner in 2013 but it is possible we could revisit other "non winners" in future years.

1. Now that the main characters are available all-year-through would you consider doing this for Horde Troopers or other army builders as well?
When and if we get to Horde Troopers it is definitely something we can think about! No plans right now.

2. Will we see Keldor's twin blades at NYTF?

At this point we don't know yet. If not NYTF at SDCC for sure.

3. Obviously Fisto's fist is now removable. Has this been made because of fan demand? Earlier it was stated that it won't be interchangeable with Jitsu's hand.

His fist is not intentionally removable.

4. From Mattel's point of view: Has the Wind Raider been a success and can we now expect more vehicles down the line, maybe for the beginning of 2013?

No, the Windraider only performed "okay" which makes it doubtful we would tackle another vehicle in the near future. Maybe in a movie year if the line goes wider.

5. Fans are demanding a skinnier and a bulkier buck for MotUC. With the inclusion of filmation rights there could now be a lot more use of it. Emiliano has done some awesome drawings and show's how a younger Prince Adam could share lots of parts with Lizard Man. Are Mattel and the 4 Horsemen looking into this or will we rather see a bulked up Lizard Man with existing parts?

A skinny buck would definitely be a cool addition. There are quite a few figures that could use this including the ones you listed and others like Modulok and other vintage figures. If and when we get to these figures this is certainly something we can look into.

1.) With all the plans that have been revealed so far with regards to the 30th anniversary, are there any surprises left to be revealed still (outside of the standard monthly releases)?

Yes.

2.) We were told previously that it took months for a figure to complete production, and they couldn't make changes due to this. Yet Toy Guru stated in his Sorceress video in mid -December that she has not even started going into production yet, with her release less than a month away... how is this possible?

Different figures and products go into production at different times based on logistics and line time.

3.) The customer service abilities of Digital river seem to be getting worse with time. MANY folks had problems with either their Swift Wind or Wind Raider orders (in some cases even both) and they are still caught in limbo with DR. Simple things like returning e-mails or phone calls just aren't happening. Speaking as one of those customers who has now waited weeks for any word on a broken Wind Raider replacement, it is becoming increasingly frustrating to deal with this. It shouldn't be this hard to get a replacement for defective product or to find out why your order hasn't shipped. Even worse, it seems as if the direct line to U.S. customer service has been shut down, leaving the standard DR call center as your only option for dealing with problems. Is there ANYTHING you guys can do about this? I fully expect the answer to be that "it is being looked into", but that really isn't enough to help all the customers who have issues in the present.

We are constantly working on improving customer service issues with Digital River.

4.) This question is in regard to the Demo-Man delay- Why were we not alerted until 2 days before the on-sale date that Demo-Man wouldn't arrive in time? With sub orders supposedly shipping 2 days before the sale date, it seems as if you would know already that Demo-Man wasn't going to arrive in time. Do figures really arrive at the warehouse the day they are scheduled to start shipping, with no advance warning on whether or not they will arrive that day? I just find it hard to understand how you wouldn't know a figure was going to be weeks late until the day it was scheduled to start shipping to subscribers.

We did not know until very late in the game that their would be a delay and we alerted fans as soon as possible.

5.) Another question regarding the Demo-Man situation- Why was the decision made to hold the Battleground Evil-Lyn figures back instead of shipping those to subscribers separately? It really felt like 2011 ended on a sour note for subscribers, since we were all stuck waiting for product while non-subscribers who purchased BG Evil-Lyn on the day of sale got her immediately. It seems like this would have been one of those cases where Matty should have eaten the cost of shipping BG Evil-Lyn by herself to subscribers as a show of good faith and as a way of maintaining the commitment to getting subscribers figures BEFORE day-of-sale buyers.

(This one was still missing an answer.)

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The sites listed below are the sites who want to participate in the Q&A round-up in these threads and on the He-Man.org homepage news entry.
Be sure to check out their sites! There's a lot there to see in addition to the Q&As.

All other sites haven't gotten back to us yet about participating, or have asked not to be included which we completely understand and respect.
So, please do not post the actual questions and answers from any site not listed above.
But you are welcome to post a direct link to their Q&A, and discuss the info here in this thread.

1) the usual mis-communication between Matty & DR, where Matty doesn't reailze there are no WR's left? Or DR doesn't realize there are WR's left?
2) DR screwed up & mistakenly refunded some people's money instead of sending out a replacement?
3) the person writing the Matty answers is full of it...........again?

Is there any possibility to give subscribers an option to decide whether or not they want combined shipments?

We are always working on improved shipping options but this is not available now.

You revealed that another Weapons Pak is planned for Fall 2012. Will that included only repainted accessoires, or completely new, previously unused sculpts as well?

That is still on the fence. We will have to see how the first few 2012 figures sell to see whether we can get tooling for this set or if it will be all repaints.

Will the lava on the Snake Mountain stands be just colored red, or is there still a change to produce them in transculent red?

It is not cast in clear but rather painted per the Horsemen's design specs.

Fans Choice Contest Question: You said that only Club Eternia 2013 subscribers will be able to vote for the final figure that's gonna be released next year. But there also are fans who didn't subscribe directly, but through friends or import shops who placed multiple subscriptions. Can they vote through their "middlemen"?

For every 2013 sub you buy you will get one code to let you vote in the poll. If you or a reseller wants to pass those codes on to friends or other customers to use and vote they are welcome to. But it is one code per sub bought. And the window to use the codes and vote will be limited to the time of the sale. Once the sub sale ends, the voting will also be closed regardless of how many sub holders use their codes and vote.

Another Fans Choice Contest Question: Let's say, an overwhelming majority of subscribers vote for one particular figure. Does that mean that we ain't gonna see the other candidates for a couple years?

Yes. We will only be doing the winner in 2013 but it is possible we could revisit other "non winners" in future years.

Why are you surprised? There is a reason why Mattel wanted to make clear, they own the rights for every fan concept...

I think you might both be reading this wrong. I think they are refering to the Fan Choice contest - ie Iluumina/Geldor/EvilSeed/Hawk/Scrollos etc. Basically they are saying they will make the losers also at some point probably...

They aren't referring to the create a character contest. See: FAN CHOICE CONTEST. Why would the losers of the fan choice vote NEVER be allowed to have figures? That seems ridiculous to me. Catman lost the original DCUC vote, but I have a figure of him now, thank Grodd. If Illumina loses do you want the to be it for her chances?

It may make sense to treat it more like a "order of who is produced first" type of list based on the voting order. But in that case, I wish they'd go ahead and open up the other slots in the poll to other sites to mix it up a bit. Then make the poll in the summer nothing but fan selections. I think that would be pretty cool.

They aren't referring to the create a character contest. See: FAN CHOICE CONTEST. Why would the losers of the fan choice vote NEVER be allowed to have figures? That seems ridiculous to me. Catman lost the original DCUC vote, but I have a figure of him now, thank Grodd. If Illumina loses do you want the to be it for her chances?

Thanks Veebs and Missile, for pointing out that it was the wrong contest.

I would like to have all the sites submit their questions to me and Matty at the same time. I will draft the answers that I think we'll receive and see how close they are! I bet that I would have answered at least half of these questions, if not more, the same or similar to matty. I could just cut and paste previous answers where applicable.

I'm disappointed to read that they won't be changing the Snake Mountain stands. Translucent red for the blood/lava would've looked so much better.

It would be a lot more expensive to Mattel to have the paint the whole stands instead of molding it in black/purple and just adding a few highlights like they are doing. . . I mean this is totally about artistic integrity since the Horsemen wanted it this way

It would be a lot more expensive to Mattel to have the paint the whole stands instead of molding it in black/purple and just adding a few highlights like they are doing. . . I mean this is totally about artistic integrity since the Horsemen wanted it this way

I don't think it would be more expensive, since the only difference would be molding it in translucent red and painting the rock purple, instead of molding it in purple & painting the lava red.

The Four Horsemen have implemented changes at the request of the fans before. Originally, He-Man's wristbands were going to be grey, and the inside of the Faceless One's hood was going to be purple.

I love The Four Horsemen and don't ever want to do them wrong, but if this line ends before we get The Battle Ram, I will have no choice but to break into their studio and steal their prototype!!! The Battle Ram has always been my favorite vehicle and I want that thing SOOOOOOOOOOO BADLY!!!

On a happier and less criminal note, it sounds like the chances of us getting Dago-Man's other weapons are pretty good since there's not much doubt that the first few figures of the year are going to be GREAT sellers!! (This is of course based on the assumption that that's what they're talking about for the possible newly tooled weapons for the next weapons pack.)

Happy about the Weapons Pak answer FO SHO! With the "heavys" coming in the next few months I bet they sell well enough to ensure some NEW weapons. Yaaay, bring on Keldors Gar Swords and Draego Mans whip and shield!